Lifetime Fitness & Wellness Pursuits PISD CBE Semester 1 Practice Exam

The concept here is the thermic effect of food, the energy the body uses to digest, absorb, and process the nutrients you eat. This cost is a portion of your total daily energy expenditure, which also includes your basal metabolism and any physical activity. For a typical mixed meal, the energy required to handle the nutrients averages about 10% of daily energy expenditure. That’s because digestion and metabolism burn calories, but not a huge amount compared with what you burn at rest or during activity, and the mix of protein, carbs, and fats in a usual diet tends to settle around this level. Protein can push TEF higher, but when you average across a normal diet, about 10% is the standard estimate.

The other figures are not as consistent with common estimates for a mixed diet: 25% or 50% would be unusually high for TEF, and 5% is lower than the typical range many sources cite for a standard diet.